OSU Professor to compete at Mid-Ohio

PROMINENT OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY PROFESSOR TO LIMELIGHT IN NASA CHAMPIONSHIPS

DUBLIN, Ohio (September 13, 2006) -- Dr. James L. Ginter, Professor Emeritus at the Fisher School of Business at The Ohio State University will compete this weekend in the National Auto Sport Association Championships presented by Toyo Tires at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.

Ginter will race his red 1988 BMW in the GTS Challenge which pits German sedans from BMW, Porsche, Mercedes, Audi and Volkswagen against each other. Ginter is among over four hundred competitors entered into the inaugural NASA Championships presented by Toyo Tires and like many Ohio drivers, Ginter is happy that the NASA Championships will take place close to home and is especially pleased that the setting is the historic 2.25-mile, 13-turn Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

"I feel like I have the ultimate hometown advantage," said Ginter who lives in Columbus. "It is very convenient, and to be honest, I haven't raced at a track other than Mid-Ohio in three years, and I have no desire to. I qualified [for the National Championships] here, and will compete in the National Championships here. It's perfect."

Ginter traces his roots at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course back to 1997, when he became a strong supporter and customer of The Mid-Ohio School, the track's high performance driving and riding school. He began taking the Acura High Performance Course, graduated to the Acura Advanced High Performance Course, and now occasionally brushes up his skills in the Lapping Program and Competition Licensing School. He additionally competes in four race weekends at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course each year.

Ginter, whose areas of expertise in the classroom lie in supply chain management, corporate strategy, the strategic planning process, marketing segmentation and product differentiation, fell in love with the world of racing when it offered him the perfect mix of skill and mechanics. An engineering major in his undergraduate studies, Ginter enjoys seeing the fruits of his labor when the set-up is perfect and he executes 40 flawless minutes of lapping on the track.

"I describe it as my golf," said the automotive enthusiast. "I found racing when I retired from full-time teaching three years ago. My goal initially when I started competing was to not come in last. Now, I have higher aspirations and am working my way up. My objective for this weekend is to come in the top third of my class."

NASA is the fastest growing amateur road racing sanctioning body in the United States, tripling its membership in the last three years. Currently, NASA boasts 10,000 members from 13 regions across the country and hosts annually 150 road racing weekends nationwide. Ginter is a proud member of the Ohio/Indiana region, which will have a strong contingent this weekend.

"The NASA Championships are very good for this region," Ginter said of the three-day event. "The amount of growth NASA has seen as an organization is exciting and a testament to the product they put out on the track. Their willingness and determination to make changes and offer series that competitors are interested in is second-to-none. They offer a future for weekend warriors like me."

The NASA Championships presented by Toyo Tires begins with practice sessions for each of the nine groups on Thursday, September 14. Friday, September 15 through Saturday, September 16 will be taken up with qualifying for the weekend's main events. The first NASA Champions will be crowned all-day on Sunday, September 17.

For tickets or more information on the NASA Championships presented by Toyo Tires, contact Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course at 1-800-MID-OHIO or www.midohio.com.

Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is a permanent road racing circuit with two primary configurations: a 2.4-mile, 15-turn, and a 2.25-mile, 13-turn circuit in Lexington, Ohio. Located 60 miles north of Columbus and 75 miles south of Cleveland near Mansfield, the track has been called the most competitive in the U.S. and annually hosts a diversity of locally, regionally and nationally sanctioned racing events for amateur, club and professional riders and drivers.

Founded in 1981 and headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, TrueSports, Incorporated is a privately held motorsports entertainment enterprise. The company owns and operates Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and The Mid-Ohio School, and promotes a wide variety of motor racing, driver instruction, corporate, and family entertainment events throughout the year.

-credit: moscc